Strong international outlook is needed to tackle Brexit challenges

Brexit will bring acute challenges to everything from business to human rights, and international trade to higher education, according to a new policy report by Brunel's Britain in Europe (BiE) think tank.

The 100-page report, which brings together 14 experts from various fields, urges the UK Government to retain a strong international outlook to effectively tackle these challenges. Among its reccomendations, it states that:

The Government must ensure that businesses remain able to source expertise and specialist skills from the EU

The imposition of tariffs must be avoided

Universities need to remain open to the best ideas and knowledge wherever they come from

The Government must safeguard the current attractiveness of the UK as a primary destination for corporate and financial restructuring

The report also strongly criticises isolationist trends and an emerging culture of exclusion – the product of divisive immigration political rhetoric – and calls upon the Government to offer reassurances to all non-UK EU citizens in the country that they will continue to enjoy equal protection with UK citizens after the formal exit from the EU.

On the other hand, the BiE report finds that Brexit creates opportunities for a fresh start on a number of areas. It can trigger a search for a new corporate culture more focussed on stakeholders and society, act as a catalyst for much-needed constitutional change, including the adoption of a written constitution, and it also makes realignment with the European Convention on Human Rights – and reinstating faith in the Human Rights Act – a necessity if the UK is to avoid a looming human rights deficit with the imminent departure from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The report, titled Brexit: Opportunities, Challenges and The Road Ahead, brings together the latest thinking from experts such as the acclaimed human rights lawyer Sir Geoffrey Nice QC – who led the prosecution against Slobodan Milošević at the ICTY – Brunel University London Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew George, and NatWest managing director Tim Boag.

Founder of the BiE think tank, Dr Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos (pictured), said: “This policy report is looking for answers about the way forward so that we, as a think tank, can address the fundamental dilemmas that the EU referendum has created for us, in relation to immigration, the free market, our constitutional system, businesses and the free movement of labour, our financial institutions, human rights, the internationalisation of higher education and research, judicial cooperation in Europe, security and national defence, culture and environmental protection - the list is endless.

"Brexit is so much more than just seeking solutions to practical problems that disentangling ourselves from the EU will naturally create. It is also, much more importantly, about looking back again into the elements that make our society’s fabric and redefining the UK’s role in Europe and the world.”

The official launch of the policy is taking place at the British Academy on Tuesday 25 October, where leading figures from business, politics, law and finance will discuss key risks and opportunities post Brexit. The former Attorney General, the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC, MP for Beaconsfield, will offer a reflection on the report and discuss ‘the road ahead with Brexit’.